Tunnell applauded for pursuing lifeguards

Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

We are residents since 1996 of a house that sits right on the Gulf next to the Sunbird Condos. In other words, we live in the epicenter of tourist activity on the beach. For years we have been saving swimmers from being pulled out in rip currents. We are aware of how to spot the rips, and how ignorant tourists are of them and their danger.

We are deeply ashamed of the fact that we spend money to lure tourists to our beaches but do not provide even the minimum protection against drowning. The flag system is useless, and is a joke to those of us who live here and observe its effectiveness.

It was a great relief to us to read that Bay County Commissioner Guy Tunnell is trying to get lifeguards on the beach. We want him to know that we are rooting for him and hope that he will not give up on this. It is hard to believe that people consider drowning victims to be at fault since they should have known better. Recently we read a letter to The News Herald asking that lights be put along Back Beach Road since it is dangerous to pedestrians. It doesn’t seem to occur to anyone, using the same logic, that if you ignore the dark and walk or bike there, it’s “your fault” for getting hit because you put yourself in danger. Lights would be nice ... but so would lifeguards!

Since a significant number of drowning victims are people who go into the water to try to rescue someone, and who have no flotation device available to take with them, at the very least if the beach provided flotation devices at intervals along the beach, it would go a long way toward saving lives. All you need is a post near the dune with a flotation device and a warning of a severe fine if the device is taken and used unless in an emergency.

We have one more request. We kind of gathered from what I’ve read that if lifeguards were to be considered, it should be as cheaply as possible. We must point out that at one time there was a lifeguard down by the county pier. We pointed out to him (as he sat on his tower, with a better view than we had) that he had swimmers off to his left very, very close to a riptide. He looked at us, looked where we were pointing, and said, “What riptide?”

It’s VERY important that lifeguards here be more than just swimmers. They need to be trained, and professional. We can’t count the number of tourists who we have taught to recognize a rip, and who had no idea that they were near one. Rips are so easy to spot, and although they move every day, just a sign planted by a lifeguard showing the section of the beach (usually just a matter of 30 yards or so) which is unsafe to swim would save lives.

We are residents since 1996 of a house that sits right on the Gulf next to the Sunbird Condos. In other words, we live in the epicenter of tourist activity on the beach. For years we have been saving swimmers from being pulled out in rip currents. We are aware of how to spot the rips, and how ignorant tourists are of them and their danger.

We are deeply ashamed of the fact that we spend money to lure tourists to our beaches but do not provide even the minimum protection against drowning. The flag system is useless, and is a joke to those of us who live here and observe its effectiveness.

It was a great relief to us to read that Bay County Commissioner Guy Tunnell is trying to get lifeguards on the beach. We want him to know that we are rooting for him and hope that he will not give up on this. It is hard to believe that people consider drowning victims to be at fault since they should have known better. Recently we read a letter to The News Herald asking that lights be put along Back Beach Road since it is dangerous to pedestrians. It doesn’t seem to occur to anyone, using the same logic, that if you ignore the dark and walk or bike there, it’s “your fault” for getting hit because you put yourself in danger. Lights would be nice ... but so would lifeguards!

Since a significant number of drowning victims are people who go into the water to try to rescue someone, and who have no flotation device available to take with them, at the very least if the beach provided flotation devices at intervals along the beach, it would go a long way toward saving lives. All you need is a post near the dune with a flotation device and a warning of a severe fine if the device is taken and used unless in an emergency.

We have one more request. We kind of gathered from what I’ve read that if lifeguards were to be considered, it should be as cheaply as possible. We must point out that at one time there was a lifeguard down by the county pier. We pointed out to him (as he sat on his tower, with a better view than we had) that he had swimmers off to his left very, very close to a riptide. He looked at us, looked where we were pointing, and said, “What riptide?”

It’s VERY important that lifeguards here be more than just swimmers. They need to be trained, and professional. We can’t count the number of tourists who we have taught to recognize a rip, and who had no idea that they were near one. Rips are so easy to spot, and although they move every day, just a sign planted by a lifeguard showing the section of the beach (usually just a matter of 30 yards or so) which is unsafe to swim would save lives.